The conference on 'Achieving Impact' was the 3rd in a series of conferences organized within EU presidencies and focusing on Social Sciences and the Humanities (SSH) within the Horizon 2020 programme. The Athens conference was organized by NET4SOCIETY, the network of the National Contact Points (NCPs) for the SSH. The local organizer of the conference was the National Documentation Centre (EKT), the Greek NCP for the SSH in Horizon 2020, and a 'value mediator' for the impact of the SSH research, as Dr Evi Sachini, Director of EKT noted in her welcome speech. The conference was a successful event that brought together more than 400 attendees from all over Europe.
The conference unravelled in two full-days and combined plenary and breakout sessions each day. The first day focused on analysing the concept of impact. The discussions revealed that 'impact' is a manifold concept with a wide range of nuances and types. Disciplinary-specific approaches to impact are also necessary, along with an increased public awareness and access to research, and increased involvement of the stakeholders.
The significance laid on impact of the SSH in Horizon 2020 underlines a shift of the emphasis from the process of research to the outcomes of research. In the second day, the plenary session focused on a detailed presentation of the working programme and the calls for 2014 and 2015, as well as detailed information regarding NET4SOCIETY NCP services, and advice on addressing impact for effective proposals.
The parallel sessions that took place during the two days provided the opportunity to present and discuss numerous impactful projects in the SSH, and to examine the meaning of impact in projects from various areas of the SSH. Some of the most significant issues that emerged from the brainstorming group sessions were these of 'interdisciplinarity' and 'social innovation'.
At the same time, it became apparent that to be able to address the impact of research from the outset of project design, a new type of academic is becoming necessary, termed the 'pracatemic', a hybrid which points to an academic with a pragmatist approach, who takes into serious consideration the effect of the project and her research can and/or should have on the stakeholder community. Concerns were also raised regarding the ways in which impact is measured. More than 900 meetings took place during a brokerage event the 2nd day of the conference, and provided the opportunity to investigate project partnerships.